


Long Nights

by jetterwetter



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, sleep loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 12:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16995435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetterwetter/pseuds/jetterwetter
Summary: Donnie is having trouble getting enough sleep. Hopefully Leo can help him find a way.





	Long Nights

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Leotello Week Day 5: Protection

Donatello looked in every direction. Everything was dark; he couldn’t tell where he was. He could see shadow figures moving in the darkness, but couldn’t make out who or what they were. He wanted to call out to see if anyone was there, but it was like his voice was stuck in his throat. His mouth would open and nothing would come out. His throat felt like it was closing shut. He clutched his throat in panic, looking around for anyone. He could hear a faint whispering all around him. It felt like it was inside of his head, steadily getting louder and louder. He fell on his knee and covered his ears. The sound was becoming deafeningly loud. He thought his head was going to split open. 

Don’s eyes flashed open and he shot up in a panicked sweat. He looked around, noticing he was in his bed. His breathing was still ragged, and it took him a couple of minutes to calm himself down. ‘A dream?’ He thought while hugging his arms around his chest for comfort. ‘No, a nightmare.’ He shook his head. It had all felt so real. He was afraid if he closed his eyes it would all come flooding back. This wasn’t his first time dealing with nightmares, but it was the first time it was ever so vivid. He knew there was no way he was going back to sleep that night, so instead he got up and went to look for something to do. 

The following morning Donnie was the last to get down to the kitchen for breakfast. Everyone was already gathered around sipping on their morning beverages of choice. Don walked by and made himself a big cup of coffee. 

“Dang, D, it’s not often you sleep in!” Michelangelo said as he opened the oven door, checking on the quiche he was making. 

Donatello just grumbled in response, drinking his coffee. As hard as he tried to not think about it, his nightmare from the night before kept replaying in his head. His brows were furrowed and he stared off at nothing as he sat there and thought. The others knew when he got like that, that it was best to just leave him be. Leonardo watched with concern. Knowing Don, it could have been a number of things going through his head. 

They continued the rest of the day as normal. The only difference was that Donatello acted a little sluggish. The other just assumed that he had stayed up a little too late working on some project of his. It seemed as soon as their day had started, it was over. Nighttime came back around and Donnie just sat on his bed. He was almost scared to go to sleep. That dream had felt so real; he didn’t want to go back to that place. He was tired though, and didn’t want to have another day of being miserable and tired. So, he laid down and drifted to sleep. 

Donatello opened his eyes only to see darkness. He looked around in confusion. His heart sank in realization. He wanted so badly to wake up already. The place was slightly different than the night before. The shadow figures were more bold, easier to make out. Also where a normal person would have a mouth, these dark masses had a bright white line that was curved up like a smile. That’s all they had. There were no eyes or anything else. Now that Don could see the figures more clearly, he could tell they were circling him. 

_Look at him. Pathetic. Useless._

The whispering started again but this time he could actually make out the words. Every time one of them talked, their mouths shone brighter. 

_He doesn’t have any clue. Poor, puny thing. Softie. <\em>_

_Donnie covered his ears, wishing, hoping he could block out the words. His efforts were fruitless. The words rang through his skull as if he were thinking them himself._

_The figures started snickering, their mouths flashing. They were mocking him and there was nothing he could do about it. Their laughter grew louder and louder. Soon it was a roar of laughter, making him feel like his insides were vibrating._

_Donatello’s eyes snapped open once again and he was sitting up in his bed, clutching his chest. He frantically looked around, expecting to still see those spiteful smiles. He took a few deep breaths, trying to slow down everything. He wiped his clammy hands on his bed, and then threw his legs over the side. Don ran his hand across his face in exasperation. He really hoped this nightmare thing wasn’t going to become a normal thing._

_Once again, he knew he wasn’t getting anymore sleep that night. Another sleepless night definitely wasn’t going to do him any favors, but at this point, he didn’t even want to look at his bed. So he spent the night doing anything else but go near his bed._

_Donnie was already in the kitchen when morning came and everyone else was getting up. He was working on his fourth cup of coffee when Leonardo walked in. Leo immediately noticed the dark circles starting to form around the others eyes._

_“Are you okay?” He asked, sitting next to Don._

_“I am fantastic.” Donatello answered before taking another swig of his coffee. He didn’t even look over at the questioning turtle. He knew Leo had a way of looking inside of people, and he was honestly scared of that._

_Leonardo was about to question him some more, but both Mikey and Raph came into the kitchen. Raphael let out a big, dramatic yawn. “Goooood morning, guys!” He said through another yawn._

_After that, Leonardo didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Donatello by himself. He decided to not worry about it too much. This could’ve just been one of Donnie’s mopey phases. He only found more cause to worry when they were in training that day. Don has been so dozed off that Mikey had landed a kick on him. He was normally pretty vigilant during training, they all were._

_When nighttime came back around, everyone went to their rooms like usual, except for Leo. He was going to find out why Don hadn’t been getting much sleep. So he sat outside of Donatello’s room, listening for any odd commotion. There was nothing strange. All he could hear was Don’s soft snoring, which meant he must be asleep._

_Donnie may have been asleep physically but mentally he was wide awake. He was in the darkness once again. The smiling shadows were still lingering all around him._

__He hasn’t given up yet. How foolish. So much for being smart. <\em>__

__The voices started immediately. Don tried as hard as he could to scream out, yell, and tell them all to shut up. He couldn’t get the words out. They were all stuck._ _

___Ah, look what we have here. <\em>__ _

___Donatello perked up. This was a different voice than all the others. It almost sounded like someone was using a voice changer, making their voice deeper and to not sound entirely human. He looked all around but didn’t see anything different. The only place he hadn’t looked was up, so that’s what he did. He thought his heart was going to stop. He would’ve shrieked if he could, but instead he just fell back onto the ground. His eyes were glued at the being above him. It was another one of the shadow people, but this one could have been as big as a small skyscraper. It had one one of those big, white smiles like all the others, but it also had white eyes. They were pure white with no pupils which was disconcerting._ _ _

____I can see you. I know what you really are. You can’t hide from me._ _ _ _

___Don gulped, staring into those blank eyes. He couldn’t make himself look away. The massive figure leaned down even closer. Two hands emerged from the darkness and landed on either side of him, making the ground shake._ _ _

____Do you know why you’re here? <\em>__ _ _

____Donatello shook his head. He scrambled to his feet and turned the other way. He wanted to run away as fast as he could, but his legs felt like literal jello. They shook and no matter how hard he told them to run, all they did was stumble forward. He could hear the entity laughing behind him in its deep voice. He fell to his knees, feeling like he was going to cry._ _ _ _

____Suddenly there was something in front of his eyes that wasn’t made of darkness. It was a pair of bright green feet, which made his heart soar. He knew whose feet those were and he couldn’t be happier about it. “Leo!” Don smiled and then looked upwards. His smile was immediately wiped away by what he saw. It was Leonardo all right but his face was different. He was just like all the shadow people, with the white eyes and smile. He looked so unnatural and Don felt a type of fear he’d never felt before. The Leonardo cocked its head to the side and reached its hand towards his face._ _ _ _

____Just before the hand reached him, Donnie woke up with a yelp. He was shaking, he couldn’t understand why this was happening to him. He hugged his knees up to his chest and laid his head in the little crook of his legs. It was taking all he had to keep from crying._ _ _ _

____“Donnie, is something wrong?!” Leonardo burst into the room with his sword at the ready. He looked over at the cowering turtle and lowered his sword. He was in shock of the state that Don was in. He was covered in sweat, shaking, and his eyes looked as if he had jut seen something horrific. Leo put his sword down and gently sat down besides Donatello. He didn’t say anything, letting Don take his time._ _ _ _

____Donnie let a slow breath out, regaining his composure. He laid the side of his head onto Leo’s shoulder. He still had his legs folded up against his chest. He slightly looked up at Leo’s face, making sure that he was in fact real. “I’m so tired, Leo.” He mumbled, trying to blink the tired dryness out of his eyes._ _ _ _

____“Do you want to talk about it?” Leonardo asked, wrapping an arm around the exhausted turtle._ _ _ _

____“Not really. I just… keep having these nightmares.” That was all Don was willing to admit. He wasn’t sure how Leo would interpret these dreams he was having._ _ _ _

____“Ah, I see. Wait here a second.” Leo said as he got up and hurried out of the room. He came back a couple of minutes later with something in his hand. He plopped back beside Donatello and handed him the item._ _ _ _

____Donnie looked at it quizzically. “Alice In Wonderland? Where did you even get this?”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah. Hey, I like to read sometimes. That shouldn’t be so shocking.” Leonardo snickered._ _ _ _

____“So, what am I supposed to do with this?” Don asked sarcastically with a brow raised._ _ _ _

____“Okay, smarty pants. What do people normally do with books?” Leo asked with a tone suggesting that he was talking to a five year old. “You read it genius. I think it’s a good way to get out of your own head. It takes you to a different world, so you don’t have to worry about this one. It’s okay if you don’t want to read it. I know it’s kind of silly.” He went to grab the book but Don pulled away from it._ _ _ _

____“No. I’ll try it. On one condition though.” Donnie said with a stern look on his face._ _ _ _

____“What would that be?” Leo smirked and laughed a little._ _ _ _

____“Read it with me?” Don asked, slightly embarrassed._ _ _ _

____Leonardo smiled and nuzzled the top of Donnie’s head. “Of course.”_ _ _ _

____They snuggled up in Donatello’s bed. They took turns reading the book out loud, making comments about the story at certain parts. Don would point out how ridiculous some things in the story were. Leo would fight it trying to come up with his own fantastical logic as to why the things were the way they were._ _ _ _

____They had made it maybe halfway through the story when Don yawned real big. His eyes slowly fluttered shut and the book slipped out of his hand. Leo gave him a loving look. He then grabbed the book and placed it on the floor. Gently, he laid Donnie down in his bed. He thought about going back to his own room but decided against it. Instead, he cuddled up next to his cute genius in bed._ _ _ _

____Donatello slept the best than he had felt like he had in years. He woke feeling so much better. He was able to get through his day vigorously. The next night they did the same thing and read their book together. It became kind of a tradition for them. When they’d finish a book, Leo would just pick another._ _ _ _

____Leonardo also started sleeping in Donnie’s room with him. They both seemed to get better sleep after that. Don stopped having his nightmares. Some nights he would have flicking images of the shadow creatures, but they were fleeting. The comfort Leonardo gave him, seemed to have pushed those bad thoughts far away._ _ _ _


End file.
